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The Stolen Claim
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by J. Searle Dawley [?] and/or Edwin S. Porter?
Cast: Herbert Prior
Edison Manufacturing Company production; distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company. / Scenario by [?] Edwin S. Porter?, from a story by [?] Bret Harte? Cinematography by Henry Cronjager. / © 16 November 1910 by Edison Manufacturing Company [J148077, J148078, J148079, J148080]. Released 16 November 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / Some location cinematography was taken in British Columbia, Canada.
Drama.
Synopsis: [The Moving Picture World, 3 December 1910, page ?] The story deals with the love of a young doctor and the daughter of an old Professor of Mineralogy. A certain unclaimed mine has been left to the young man by his uncle. A false friend succeeds in securing the plans and location of the mine, and persuades the old Professor to enter his scheme to cheat the rightful owner out of his claim. The facts are kept safely from the daughter, who is in love with the real owner of the mine, until some months after she has been forced to marry the false friend. The truth is then revealed to her, when her former sweetheart meets her father and the ‘friend’ in their new Western abode, and accuses them of deliberately stealing his claim. But Justice takes care of its own when an explosion occurs in the mine and the father is killed and the husband is badly injured. Medical aid is required at once. The girl in a wild ride reaches the nearest village twenty miles away, and seeing the sign of a doctor on the door, she nervously knocks. It is opened—she finds herself face to face with the man whom she loves and whom her husband has so cruelly wronged. She has come to ask him to save the life of his worst enemy. Here the nobility of the man is revealed. She has asked for medical aid; he is the doctor. If the man dies, he may again regain the woman of his heart, but duty before everything, and he goes with her, and again, face to face, the two men meet. With the calm, quiet precision of his profession, he forces his enemy to do his bidding. He saves his life and then turns to the wife. Silently the two, this man and this woman, look into each other’s eyes long and earnestly—and part. She sinks into her chair with a sob, a moan, realizing what she has missed in life. For days she watches beside the bed of the man who has deprived her of happiness. Weary with watching, one night she falls asleep. He is delirious. He rises from his couch and wanders back up to the deserted mine. A moment he pauses on the edge of the dizzy height—a cry from the woman startles him—a shriek—and he is dashed to pieces one thousand five hundred feet below. A pale, quiet little woman dressed in black stops at the doctor’s door one day and leaves a note asking for forgiveness and a mining claim upon the doctor’s table, then sadly turns to leave; but a strong hand touches her shoulder, and she looks into the eyes of the man she loves, and as she stretches her arms to a great cluster of flowers on the table and holds them to her breast, we realize that something new and sweet and true has come into both their lives.
Reviews: [Variety, 19 November 1910, page ?] It is too bad the Edison company didn’t put the beautiful scenery to better use. A man arises from a sick bed and walks steadily and unwaveringly to a high cliff and jumps off. It seems strange that the man’s bandages were not the least bit soiled nor rumpled in his death fall over the cliff, as the distance is supposed to be more than a thousand feet. The story is about a stolen mine. The scenery saves the picture. // [Nickelodeon, 1 December 1910, page ?] Chiefly interesting on account of the excellent and appropriate scenery. The effect of the drama is tame, considering all the heart issues involved. The ‘big’ scene (where the sick man drops over the precipice) failed to thrill entirely. This was largely the fault of the actor. His delirium was only meagerly suggested, and the fall was too abrupt, lacking dramatic preparation. // [The Moving Picture World, 3 December 1910, page ?] A Canadian picture centering around a silver mine suspended on a cliff 1,500 feet in the air. The interest is chiefly in the doctor. When called to go to attend the man who destroyed his happiness, he does it without flinching. Perhaps, as teaching the truth that sin is frequently punished in this life, retribution follows the false friend and, even though he recovers from the effects of the accident, he plunges over the cliff to destruction. As might be expected, the two lovers are reunited.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 29 June 2023.
References: Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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